Nobody denies that financial crimes pull down the credit rating of countries, and reduce the volume of foreign investments. Thus, a business environment characterized by a lower financial crime rate can attract greater foreign investments.
In the Gulf region there are the strict measures taken to combat financial crimes. But at the same time, white collar criminals try to launder their money and transfer it to safe havens, such as conflict zones, or those impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic, and so on – trends that contribute to an increase in global inflation rates and the emergence of signs of a global recession and other developments.
Clean money always looks for an environment characterized by political stability and security, free from complications, bureaucracy, corruption and terrorist groups. The Gulf region is characterized by security and political stability, and endeavours, as much as possible, to commit to implementing international conventions to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. All the countries of the GCC are among the first countries to adhere to the United Nations Convention against Organized Financial Crimes, as they always seek to update their laws and legislations in this regard.
By having such laws in place, they ensure the provision of conditions that must be adhered to by operating banks to enhance the role of the global financial system, and to adhere to the forty recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. This requires verifying client data, such as validating their identity, maintaining records, and following up on suspicious transactions in global money transfers, and so on.
The countries of the region are bound by bilateral and multilateral agreements for cooperation and mutual interaction in this regard. At the same time, they are working to introduce further improvements and freezing suspicious accounts in cooperation with central banks and affiliated banking and financial institutions. Also, the countries of the region have established national committees to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, which include many representatives of the relevant ministries and regulatory authorities, with the aim of following up on these issues and taking measures that can limit money laundering operations in its various forms.
Allowing financial crimes to spread in any country will result in multibillion dollar losses for institutions and companies. Today, the types of financial crime also include the manipulation of commercial transactions and the practice of tax fraud on some international banking institutions. This requires the detection of perpetrators who make illegal gains, practice tax fraud and make gains through credit cards, electronic fraud, securities fraud, and the announcement of commercial bankruptcies.
Economic and commercial fraud can have an unhealthy impact on economies, while contributing to a reduction in the quality of goods and services provided to consumers. It also leads to the aversion of international companies from investing, and exposes other institutions in the field of banking, insurance and others to financial losses. Finally, modern technologies today play a major role in cross-platform fraud. Fraudsters can resort to various ways to gain the trust of victims to get their money and then launder it into clean economies.
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